Pompidou Group

This publication sheds light on the situation of drug users among criminal justice populations and corresponding health care responses in Eastern and Southeast Europe. In many of the studied prison systems there is an almost complete unavailability of effective addiction treatment – e.g. opiate agonist treatment – or the potential of such treatment has not yet been fully exploited. Detoxification treatment alone or interruption of treatment can have negative effects on the health of drug-dependent persons. However, some places have been applying state-of-the-art addiction treatment and harm reduction measures, including needle and syringe exchange programmes, for quite some time.